Lil Squeaky

'''Music Actually fire. Apollo Allen Ailus, known professionally by his stage name Lil Squeaky''', is a Finnish-American rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer. He initially gained notoriety for his extensive discography on his original SoundCloud account, before signing to Flex Entertainment. He is best known for singles such as "MANNY", "Oolin", "Menace," "Menace 2," and the song "Nipples," which peaked at number seven on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100.

He became an executive in the label on September 24, 2020. He is the older brother of former Flex Entertainment artist .jitters. His music contains a wide variety of production styles and vocal deliveries, with most of his music containing elements of cloud rap and trap rap, and more recently elements of pop, rock, EDM, and R&B.

He stepped down from his position of Flex Entertainment executive on February 23, 2021.

Early Life
Apollo Allen Ailus was born on December 16, 2002, in Helsinki, Finland, as the second child of four. His mother is from Bangladesh, and was adopted by a wealthy Finnish couple at the age of seven. His father is a pure-blooded Finnish man. In May 2004, Ailus and his family moved to the US state of Maryland, before relocating to Falls Church, Virginia. They later moved to Fairfax, Virginia in 2006, and finally to Alexandria, Virginia in 2017. He has two younger brothers and one older sister. One of his brothers is fellow rapper and producer .jitters.

Career
Lil Squeaky released his first single, “Fake Lil Squeaky,” in May 2018, a diss track towards fellow Virginia rapper Lil Crisp. He released several more singles in late spring and early summer 2018 on SoundCloud, and gained a following over the summer. He released his debut mixtape Squeakerton, The Chronicle on September 21, 2018. Just a few weeks later in October he released the EP Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 1. Then on November 3, 2018, he released the mixtape Deadass: Ricky’s Last Stand. The song “MANNY” from this mixtape became popular nearly two years later in July 2020 after being posted on the Reddit page Cringetopia. Shortly after the Deadass mixtape was released, the Lil Squeaky character “died.”  This is because Ailus didn’t feel any motivation to make music, so he killed off the character of Lil Squeaky. However, at the end of the year, he decided to revive the character and continue making music.

On February 10, 2019, Squeaky released his most recent mixtape Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 2.  Later that month he released the double-single Spooky Hours, which featured the two lead singles for his upcoming debut album. His first studio album, Professional Murderer, was released on April 9, 2019, and was intended to be a very loud, experimental album. The album garnered mixed reviews, with many listeners enjoying the album’s absurdity and Squeaky’s brand of satire, while others criticized how distorted and abrasive the album’s sound was. Squeaky went on hiatus after this, and released two singles in May 2019 under the moniker XXX Biggie T. The Soundcloud account he used for those songs would later become his second account for his Lil Squeaky music.

Squeaky was signed to Flex Entertainment on October 31, 2019, and released his first single under the label, “Menace,” featuring Lil Mosquito Disease and Big Lil, in November. Squeaky gained a much greater following after releasing the song, and it peaked at number 51 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100, long after its initial release and peak popularity. Squeaky’s follow-up single “Menace 2,” featuring Lil Mosquito Disease, Big Lil, and beetlebat, was released late in November, and peaked at number 67. "Menace 2" became Squeaky's first song to reach 1,000 plays on Spotify.

In 2020, Squeaky’s first release was the single “Ok,” and shortly after announced that he was working on his second studio album Menace 2 Society. The album was intended to be a "meme rap version of Travis Scott's Rodeo album." However, he would later announce that the entire album was scrapped and he would instead attempt to make an album that people would listen to unironically in their free time while still including lyrics that could make people laugh. He does plan on eventually releasing the scrapped songs. To entertain fans before he album would be released, he released two projects: a live compilation album, Squeaky Sings the Classics, released on April 10 on SoundCloud and YouTube, and the EP Squeaky 4 President, released on SoundCloud and YouTube on April 17 and onto streaming services on April 31. The EP was met with generally positive reviews, with many listeners finding the songs catchy, though others disliked the poor mastering and the very questionable lyrics. The EP spawned Squeaky’s first top ten hit, “Nipples,” which peaked at number 7 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. Thanks to this EP and especially the success of "Nipples," Squeaky gained a larger and more dedicated following.

Squeaky became an administrator for Flex Entertainment on June 29, 2020, after administrator Yung Garfield left the label; however, Garfield re-signed to the label on July 3 and would become an administrator again alongside Squeaky. Squeaky announced in June that he changed the title of his second studio album to God Mode.  The album’s lead single “Rollercoaster” was released on July 3, 2020 and peaked at number 28 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. On that same day, Squeaky appeared on three songs on the Flex Gang, vol. 2 compilation album: His own songs, “Moonshine” featuring Lil Toy Yoda and Lil Joof, and “Nipples 2” featuring Big Baller B, Lil Mosquito Disease, Lil Toy Yoda, Lil Joof, and Yung Lambo; and as a featured artist on Yung Garfield’s song “New Beans” featuring Lil Squeaky and John. On the Hot 100, Moonshine peaked at number 24 and New Beans at 27.

Squeaky released his second studio album God Mode on July 24, 2020. The album was met with very positive reviews, becoming the highest rated Flex Entertainment album on the album reviewing site AlbumOfTheYear. Many listeners and critics praised the more polished sound and improved mixing and mastering, as well as Squeaky's infectious flows and vocal performances and often funny lyrics. Some critics disliked some of the lyrics and mixing, but the majority of listeners gave the album very positive feedback.

Squeaky released a number on non-album singles in the latter half of 2020, including "Blockbuster" featuring Young Seagull, "Menace 3," the highly anticipated sequel to Menace and Menace 2, and "Molestor Moon" with Lil Mosquito Disease, Yung Lambo, Yung Garfield, .jitters, Cedric, and Lil Nav. He then announced his fourth mixtape, and his first since Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 2, Squeaky 4 President 2: The Re-Election. The mixtape was preceded by the lead single, "Squeaky Claus," which was a Christmas song. The song was met with very negative reception, with many fans wondering where the Lil Squeaky they knew and loved from God Mode went. Squeaky 4 President 2 was released on December 4, 2020, and was met with mixed reviews. Many listeners and critics stated that while the album was fun to listen to, the majority of the songs were rather forgettable, and not nearly as enjoyable as the more focused material found on God Mode.

Squeaky has worked on other Flex artists' albums as well, starting with his role as "creative director" of Yung Garfield's debut album BOMBOCLAAT. Squeaky helped out a lot with samples and telling Garfield what to do for a certain song's production or lyrical topic. He also taught Garfield how to "produce in Audacity," a style of production that Garfield has stuck to ever since and has brought him great success. In addition, Squeaky was the sound engineer for Yung Lambo's debut album Lambo Season. He was also featured on multiple songs on each of these albums. He has featured on many large collaboration songs with several artists including "MOLESTER MOON" and "Side Effects Remix".

Lil Squeaky stepped down as exec on February 23, 2021. He stated the position brought a lot of unexpected stress, and he wanted to return to treating Flex more casually and distantly like he had done before becoming admin or exec. He also felt that he had become somewhat "addicted" to Flex, and taking breaks and leaving the server didn't help much, so leaving his position of power he felt was the best move to relieve his stress.

Squeaky has also announced a multi-genre album, initially titled FAIR LAKES PLAZA. The working title was then changed to Squeaky, and then to Fever Dreams, and then to Purity, before Squeaky announced that the album had no title. In February 2021, he formally announced the album, titled In Development, set to release on March 26, 2021. The album's tracklist was revealed on March 19.

On March 26, Squeaky released his third studio album In Development with features from Young Seagull, 2Maajor, Kid Floral, Lil Mosquito Disease, Lil Flexer and White Fury. The album was received very well by most people and many have called it the best Flex Entertainment release so far. The album's more personal focus received a lot of praise.

Although being technically too young to run for president, Lil Squeaky has stated that he will be running for president in 2024.

Controversies
Lil Squeaky is considered one of the most controversial artists in Flex Entertainment, sporting a brash and often harsh sense of humor and a willingness to express highly unpopular opinions and beliefs. He has also been criticized for his habit of playful teasing, which some have taken offense to, calling Squeaky a cyberbully. Squeaky has bought into his controversy, dubbing himself "the music community's greatest supervillain," a title inspired by far-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos.

Lil Squeaky was in a short lived rap beef with rapper "Lil Crisp" better known by his real name Bivash which resulted in the song "Fake Lil Squeaky". The rap beef was revisited in late 2020 once various Flex Entertainment artists found out about it.

Lil Squeaky openly aligns himself with the Republican party, describing himself as a "moderate Republican with some liberal and national populist beliefs," and he has come under fire for his political beliefs on numerous occasions. He has stated that "beliefs are beliefs" and that "one of the great struggles of American society is the struggle to treat others with respect in the face of disagreements." Some have labeled Squeaky as a racist because he is a Republican, despite his anti-racist song "Fuck Racist."

Lil Squeaky has also made several statements that have been considered "going too far" for Flex, and he has offended numerous people. His offensive sense of humor, particularly seen on his older projects and in interactions with friends, has been the subject of much controversy, with many Flex fans and distant associates wishing for him to lose his platform.

Users of the music reviewing website Album of the Year have gone after Squeaky for posting misleading or "troll" reviews of highly praised music on the site. A particular instance revolved around his low score on Orchid's single "Mama," where he stated in his review that the song almost replaced his own song "Nipples" at #1 on the MusicBoard singles chart, which he described as "no good." This sparked backlash against him, with popular reviewers calling him annoying and asking for him to delete the review. Squeaky has still yet to delete the review. He also wrote an infamous review on a Ronald Reagan speech, where many reviewers described Reagan as a horrible president and person, and stated his death was a good thing. Squeaky rated the speech, which spoke against socialized medicine, a 100 out of 100, with his review merely being "trump 2020." The review sparked massive backlash against Squeaky.

Squeaky has entered numerous highly publicized feuds with Former Flex Entertainment artists. He has a reputation for "winning every beef he enters" and avoiding being cancelled numerous times. Producer 5ach!† repeatedly insulted Squeaky's mixing and mastering on beetlebat's song "Turn it Up," which 5ach!† was originally supposed to mix but was fired after being banned from the Flex Discord server. 5ach!† has continuously begged for attention and aggressively condemned beetlebat's decision to let Squeaky mix the song instead. Several months later, 5ach!† attacked Squeaky's mixing on another beetlebat song, "Here We Go." Squeaky also entered a public feud with LVN Filo, who criticized Squeaky's sense of humor and called him a "fucking manchild" before hinting at his possible departure from Flex Entertainment. Before this potential departure, Filo made numerous remarks on Squeaky's demeanor, which were highly criticized by others, particularly beetlebat, as a way of "looking for beef." Ya Boy Payden, whom Squeaky signed himself, also made a number of aggressive statements against Squeaky regarding his poor treatment of former Flex Entertainment artist J Coyn Drive, which Squeaky has since apologized for repeatedly. After Payden was accused by many of politicizing the situation and spreading false information, he was suspended from Flex for two weeks, and has since apologized for and retracted his statements, and is currently on good terms with Squeaky again.

Lil Squeaky is known to vote against many executive votes which all the other executives are in favor of, and vote in favor of highly unpopular decisions. For example, he has vehemently argued for the inclusion of Leggoland's widely hated song "Starin' at the Sunset" on the compilation album Flex Gang, vol. 3. The song ultimately did not make it onto the album. He voted to include a number of other songs that did not make the cut, and voted against including a number of songs that did make the cut. He is also known to praise widely disliked artists, such as Tending Bike, Beetlebat, Yung Lambo, and Wild Wes. While public opinion on these artists improved in 2020 and 2021, Squeaky is known for having spoken about them in high regard long before most people did.

Lil Squeaky's music itself has been subject of much debate. He was one of the most highly praised artists in Flex Entertainment for much of 2020, but recent scrutiny has caused general opinion on his music to sour. His 2020 output has been highly criticized for its poor mixing, despite his general improvements in mixing over the course of the year. In addition to his official releases, two lo-fi bedroom pop songs of his, titled "Breather" and "Alone Again" were leaked in late 2020, and were widely panned for being edgy and having poor vocal delivery from Squeaky, who is generally considered one of the better singers in Flex. "Breather" and "Don't Think" in particular have been widely hated in late 2020 and early 2021. His 2018 and 2019 output has also been subject of much scrutiny, with famous rapper and reviewer Big Baller B calling his debut album Professional Murderer "cringe" and "unfunny," while praising other older releases such as "Oolin" and "b r o k e n h e a r t e d." Some have called these older projects funny and the source of many sleeper hits, whereas others have labeled them as unfunny or even offensive due to controversial lyrics, particularly on Squeaky's 2018 debut mixtape Squeakerton: The Chronicle.

Squeaky has labeled himself a "Flex originalist," and he strongly believes that Flex Entertainment as a whole was better from mid 2019 to early 2020 than it was afterwards. He is responsible for creating the theory of different "Flex Eras," and he firmly believes that Era 2 was when Flex was in its prime, citing the casual and more distant nature of the community as a positive. He has stated that the label has become too demanding, closely knit, and emotional, and while positive moments have a greater impact, negative moments have a much larger negative impact, and bring a lot of stress to the whole community. His statements have drawn extensive criticism from others, particularly from Yung Lambo, who has led the charge in saying that Squeaky "simps for the old Flex." Squeaky has sported a variety of hairstyles during his time in Flex, many of which have been the subject of scrutiny. Upon joining, he sported a short forwards quiff hairstyle, which many described as looking like a sponge or a paintbrush. In 2020, he grew his hair out longer, adopted a medium-length sideswept look. He donned blonde highlights in the spring of 2020, which he was teased for by some. In summer, he cut his hair short again, sporting a side-parted quiff hairstyle that was mostly received favorably. In December 2020, a selfie he took after receiving a haircut went viral, with many stating that his hairline looked messed up and that he looked like an egg. His unstyled hair has been compared to that of Canadian rapper Nav. Similarly, Squeaky's fashion sense has been teased by some, as he tends to wear smart casual to formal clothing. In spring and summer 2020, he very frequently wore floral shirts, which were complimented by some and scrutinized by others. His overcoats and assortment of jackets have suffered similar fates.

Trivia

 * Lil Squeaky's verse on his song "XEXE" is potentially the fastest verse ever rapped by a Flex Entertainment artist.
 * Many of Squeaky's older songs on Soundcloud have been recently gaining traction and have become sleeper hits. Some notable examples are "MANNY", "Oolin", "XEXE", "Arms Race", "Cclapped" and most notably "b r o k e n h e a r t e d" which even received a remix in September 2020 with popular Flex Entertainment artist Big Baller B.
 * His older SoundCloud projects have also gained traction in recent months, most notably "Professional Murderer" and "SQUEAKERTON: The Chronicle".
 * He had the most XP in the Flex Entertainment Discord Server for a very long time before being surpassed by Yung Lambo.
 * He is one of 2 Flex Entertainment members to have released a live album, the other being CRZFawkz.
 * He is one of two Flex Entertainment artists to have an entire "project" of theirs leaked with the compilation "Menace 2 Society" being leaked by allegedly Fastoosh Kaloosh on FLEX LEAKS. The other artist to have had a project leaked is Lil Toy Yoda.
 * Lil Squeaky has two song trilogies as of 2021. The Menace trilogy and the Nipples trilogy.
 * Lil Squeaky is well known for being a "creative director" or producer for various Flex artists' projects. Well known examples include his work on BOMBOCLAAT and Lambo Season.

Albums

 * Professional Murderer  (2019)
 * God Mode (2020)
 * In Development (2021)

Mixtapes

 * Squeakerton: The Chronicle (2018)
 * Deadass: Ricky's Last Stand (2018)
 * Jews in the Ghetto, Vol. 2 (2019)
 * SQUEAKY 4 PRESIDENT 2 - THE RE-ELECTION (2020)

EPs

 * Jews in the Ghetto, Vol. 1 (2018)
 * SPOOKY HOURS (2019)
 * Squeaky 4 President (2020)

Live Albums

 * Squeaky Sings the Classics (2020)

Compilations

 * Menace 2 Society (2020) [Leaked by Fastoosh]